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"News Watch" (a column from the Christian Research Journal, Spring
1992, page 5) by William M. Alnor, except where noted.
The Editor-in-Chief of the Christian Research Journal is
Elliot Miller.
-------------
*Financial Crisis Rocks Christian Science*
Surrounded by charges of financial mismanagement, poor
administration, and questionable editorial practices, the First
Church of Christ, Scientist has accepted the resignation of its
chairman, reorganized its leadership, and shut down its cable TV
network. Since 1987 the church has spent close to $500 million in
an attempt to create a secular media empire, and as of March 1992
it was reportedly running at a deficit of $6.5 million per month.
In 1879 Mary Baker Eddy founded the First Church of Christ,
Scientist (also called the "Mother Church") in Boston and
established her book, _Science and Health with Key to the
Scriptures,_ as its "pastor" alongside the Bible. On the basis of
her own healing experiences, and influenced by metaphysician P. P.
Quimby, Eddy developed a meditative healing technique that entails
renouncing the very existence of disease -- a technique Eddy called
"Christian Science." Today her followers are estimated at 150,000
worldwide.
In the mid-1980s the sect's board of directors decided to move
into 21st-century communications in a big way. Building on the
reputation of the daily _Christian Science Monitor,_ its Pulitzer
Prize-winning newspaper, they launched a 24-hour news, culture, and
public affairs cable network called The Monitor Channel; WQTV, a
Boston UHF television station; a monthly news magazine, _World
Monitor;_ and a shortwave radio system, _The World Service of The
Christian Science Monitor._
But by 1988 this ambitious expansion had taken an increasing
financial toll, forcing the last in a series cutbacks on the
_Christian Science Monitor_ and prompting the departure of more
than 60 people, including the paper's senior editor and three
associate editors. Each year thereafter, the church has had to draw
upon restricted funds to subsidize its media expansion, with some
total estimates reaching as high as $500 million.
The sect's most expensive venture by far was the Monitor
Channel, which reportedly cost more than $125 million to operate
during its 11-month lifespan. Christian Scientists expressed as
much concern about the network's direction as they did about its
cost: since the channel's only religious program was a five-minute
broadcast at 5 A.M., many worried that their church was becoming
"secularized."
Another crisis began unfolding in 1991 when, to qualify for a
$97 million bequest, the church decided to publish _The Destiny of
the Mother Church_ by Bliss Knapp as "authorized Christian Science
literature" and prominently display the book in "substantially all"
of its 2,600 reading rooms (_see_ the Winter 1992 Christian
research journal). But according to historian Stephen Gottschalk,
the publication of the controversial book, written in the 1940s,
demonstrates "a crisis of authority" since it "virtually deifies
Mrs. Eddy," placing her on a par with Jesus. Because Eddy herself
rejected this notion on several occasions, many church members
question the decision to publish and distribute _Destiny,_ which
seemed to put money above principle.
Soon after Knapp's book was published the four editors who
jointly produce the sect's religious periodicals resigned, issuing
a terse public statement: "In good conscience, we are unable to
continue serving as editors under present board policies." Worse
still, on February 24 Stanford University and the Los Angeles
County Museum -- the bequest's default beneficiaries -- obtained a
90-day delay in hopes of demonstrating that the sect has not lived
up to the terms of the will.
Historically, the Mother Church has certain "restricted" funds,
such as endowments, which Christian Science officials have
repeatedly said were not used for the church's day-today
operations. However, on December 31, 1991 the church ran out of
general operating funds and elected to borrow from these restricted
funds to meet its operating expenses. After borrowing $5 million
from the Trustees Under the Will of Mary Baker Eddy and $21.5
million dollars from the pension fund in January and early February
of 1992, the board borrowed an additional $20 million on February
28 to repay an earlier loan from the Christian Science Monitor
fund. The $41.5 million in transfers from the pension fund reduced
it to just over $60 million -- half the $120 million it contained
only three years ago.
Almost immediately an unnamed church official leaked the news
of the pension fund transfers to the _Boston Globe,_ a disclosure
which brought tremendous pressure upon the board of directors. Many
church members expressed shock and disappointment on hearing news
of the highly irregular loans. Amid questions surrounding the
transfers, Harvey W. Wood, a 15-year member of the five-person
board, resigned as chairman and was replaced by board member
Virginia S. Harris. Simultaneously, the Monitor Channel -- then
losing about $4 million a month -- was put on the market, with
plans to dissolve the network on April 15 if a buyer was not found.
The church's bureaucracy was also reorganized in a return to the
cabinet-style government used in its early years.
Despite the church's financial turmoil, spokesman J. Thomas
Black expressed confidence that Harris is fully capable of bringing
the movement through this difficult period. "Everyone who knows her
sees her as intelligent, gracious, and very much a listener, but
also very decisive and authoritative," he said.
Nevertheless, it is doubtful that any change in leadership will
reverse the sect's general decline. Not only has its newspaper's
circulation dropped (from 240,000 in the 1960s to 100,000 today),
but church membership itself has plummeted from an estimated
268,000 in the 1930s to some 150,000. (According to the March 14,
1992 _New York Times,_ "There are more Roman Catholics in North
Dakota than Christian Scientists in the United States.") And beyond
concerns of dwindling membership and financial pressures, many
Christian Scientists feel their church has not dealt with its
underlying identity crisis, fearing that the recent leadership
shuffle hasn't altered a much deeper trend towards secularization.
Some former Christian Scientists view the current leadership
shakeup as a watershed in the movement's history. "I think this is
the beginning of the end of institutional Christian Science as we
know it," said Randall Childs of Boston. "These media projects will
die, one by one -- the daily _Monitor_ last of all. Eventually we
will see a corporate implosion, and we will see a small, aberrant
cult, no longer prestigious, a shadow of its former image."
-- _Keith Edward Tolbert_
-------------
*Special Report: Worldwide Church of God in Transition*
Following the 1986 death of its controversial founder, Herbert
W. Armstrong, the Worldwide Church of God (WCG) seems to be
rethinking many of its distinctive -- and largely heretical --
dogmas. There is evidence that the WCG's leadership may have become
orthodox on some points, while remaining unorthodox (or undecided
at best) on others.
Michael A. Snyder, the church's Associate Director of Public
Affairs, contacted the publishers of a forthcoming book on cults
which will include the WCG. Consequently, we represented the
publishers in a January 13, 1992 meeting with WCG leaders to
discuss doctrinal changes they claim have been taking place within
the church. Representing the WCG were Snyder, David Hulme (Director
of Communications and Public Affairs), and J. Michael Feazell
(Executive Assistant to Joseph Tkatch, the church's Pastor General
and successor to Armstrong). Among other duties, the three oversee
_The Plain Truth_ magazine (2.7 million circulation), produce "The
World Tomorrow" television broadcast (on 150 stations), and direct
church affairs for the sect's 135,000 members.
Before the meeting we studied a "membership only" publication
in which Tkatch stated: "When we find that we've been wrong....we
have the obligation before God to change" (_Worldwide News,_ 24
June 1991, p. 1). We were also aware that dissenters have left the
WCG to form groups based on Armstrong's original teachings (_see,_
for example, the advertisement run by the Oklahoma-based
"Philadelphia Church of God" in the January 17, 1992 _Los Angeles
Times_).
We questioned Snyder, Hulme, and Feazell about past doctrines
and specific statements from Armstrong's writings.
* Armstrong taught, in effect, that the WCG is the only true church
-- a claim the present leadership no longer makes. However, we are
troubled by Tkatch's recent articles criticizing Christian
denominations (e.g., _Worldwide News,_ 21 May 1990). We expect such
denunciations to cease if the WCG's new stance is to be consistent.
* Armstrong stated, "You are setting out on a training to become
God!" In response, Feazell said, "[This] whole concept is something
we do not accept." We then asked whether our sonship as Christians
differs in any way from Jesus' status as the Son of God. Feazell
replied: "Jesus is the unique, eternal Son of God by nature and by
right. We become sons of God by grace...[But] we will never receive
any of God's incommunicable and unique attributes." In contrast
with Armstrong's heresy, we find these statements scriptural.
* The doctrine of the Trinity remains a stumbling block. On the one
hand, a very orthodox-sounding statement in one recent church
publication declares that the WCG "teaches the full divinity of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." However, on
further questioning we discovered that the men believe in one God
who exists eternally as _two_ persons -- Father and Son. The Holy
Spirit, while "fully divine," is not regarded as a person. Rather,
they spoke somewhat inconsistently of the Holy Spirit as the mind
of God, as His active power, or possibly as the divine essence
itself. The three assured us that they are still studying the
issue; if they conclude that the Holy Spirit is a person, they will
be Trinitarians.
* The three maintained that salvation is by grace alone through
faith in Christ. When asked specifically whether baptism is a
prerequisite to salvation, they said no. The WCG formerly taught
that one was not born again until the resurrection, but this
doctrine has also been changed. Still, we were dismayed to find
recent statements that seemed to present baptism as necessary for
salvation (e.g., _The Plain Truth,_ January 1992, p. 9). We will
monitor this inconsistency to see if corrections are made.
* Armstrong emphatically denied Christ's bodily resurrection,
teaching a spirit resurrection instead. These leaders clearly
affirmed that Christ was resurrected in a body of flesh and bone,
based on Luke 24.
While the interview indicates that significant changes have
either taken place or are now in process, only time will tell how
permanent and thoroughgoing they will be, since the
representatives' views are not necessarily binding upon the
organization as a whole. Meanwhile, we need to pray for continued
dialogue between evangelicals and the WCG in the hope that God will
lead them into a full acceptance of essential biblical truth.
-- _Kurt Van Gorden and Alan W. Gomes_
*Note:* Gomes and Van Gorden submitted this article to the WCG
representatives, asking that they correct any errors of fact before
its publication; as of press time no such corrections had been
submitted.
-------------
*Scientology-linked Group Sues Countercult Ministry*
After a Los Angeles judge quashed a $9.5 million lawsuit
against Watchman Fellowship by a business linked to Scientology, a
new action against the countercult ministry has been filed by a
branch of the Church of Scientology itself.
At press time, however, Watchman Fellowship -- which is based
in Columbus, Georgia and has eight U.S. chapters -- had still not
been served with the legal papers, according to attorney Eric
Johnston, who is representing the ministry. But some of the
defendants have been served, says Los Angeles attorney Toby Plevin,
adding that Watchman Fellowship has definitely been named in the
second suit.
The original action, filed by Sterling Management Systems on
November 25, 1991, may be the first ever brought against an
evangelical ministry by a Scientology-related concern. The suit
alleged that Watchman and its codefendants -- including the
ministry's Alabama State Director, Craig Branch -- engaged in a
"conspiracy" to interfere with Sterling's business contracts.
Johnston, a Rutherford Institute attorney representing
Watchman, called the suit "ridiculous," adding that Branch "was
doing nothing more than exercising his First Amendment right of
free speech. We're talking about competing religious beliefs.
[Scientology is] a false religious system that uses deception. It
was not his goal to take away their business."
In November of 1988 Branch sent a letter to 1,400 dentists in
Alabama warning them of "some controversial, and in some cases
destructive groups (cults) that have adapted their programs to take
advantage of this business market" -- specifically, Sterling
Management.
A January 27, 1992 Watchman Fellowship press release noted that
_Time_ magazine's May 6, 1991 cover story labeled Scientology "The
Cult of Greed" and identified Sterling as a "front group" and
financial scam whose "true aim is to hook customers for
Scientology." In the original suit Sterling presented itself as a
"for profit, privately owned corporation" that has licensed the
"technology" that _Dianetics_ author L. Ron Hubbard developed to
manage the Church of Scientology.
Johnston said that Watchman Fellowship is not necessarily off
the hook, explaining that Watchman and Branch's names were removed
from the suit because "Craig and Watchman have never been in
California, and they have no business being sued in California. It
violates their due process rights." But he added that Sterling has
the option of initiating a new suit in Alabama.
Lawrence Heller, Sterling's Beverly Hills attorney, stated in
an April 1992 telephone interview that his clients had not made a
final decision whether to pursue the case in Alabama, but said he
thought they were inclined to do so. Heller also said that the
Church of Scientology's suit was unrelated to the original court
action.
Heller stated further that Sterling's original suit is still
ongoing against the remaining defendants: the Cult Awareness
Network (CAN), a secular countercult organization; and two of CAN's
officers -- executive director Cynthia Kisser and past president
Priscilla Coates.
Attorney Plevin said the new suit by the Church of Scientology
of Orange County, California -- which is a "cross filing"
(countersuit) to an action which her client, Dr. Glover Rowe of
Centre, Alabama, filed against the sect -- alleges that Watchman
and Branch conspired with Rowe, his wife, and others to defame the
church. Plevin added that her client sued the Orange County church,
alleging false imprisonment and invasion of privacy in connection
with a Scientology seminar they attended in Tustin, California in
November 1990.
The Scientology church's February 28, 1992 countersuit seeks
damages in excess of $500,000 and punitive damages from each of the
defendants, including Branch and Watchman Fellowship. It alleges
that Watchman and Branch "conspired" with Mrs. Rowe and others to
get her husband out of a Scientology seminar contract.
But the Rowes' attorney alleges that the sect "falsely
imprisoned" the couple in a Scientology management seminar, and
that when Mrs. Rowe attempted to flee, Scientology members chased
her on foot through the streets of Tustin.
In recent months CAN has had to defend itself against at least
eight lawsuits filed by the Church of Scientology, Sterling
Management, and individual Scientology members, according to CAN
staff member Marty Butz.
-- _William M. Alnor_
-------------
*Matthew Fox Defies Order's Demand*
Controversial Dominican priest Matthew Fox, who proclaims a
mystical "creation-centered spirituality" (_see_ the Fall 1987
CHRISTIAN RESEARCH JOURNAL), is in trouble again. Following months
of negotiations, the Provincial Council of the Dominican Central
Province formally requested that Fox be dismissed from the order
after he defied an ultimatum that he return to Chicago by January
25 or face expulsion.
Donald Goergen, head of the province, had said that "It is not
the writings or the ministry that has been our concern....Our
concern has been how to establish a relationship in which there
would be a minimal level of accountability."
A spokesman for Fox said that the influential priest defied
Goergen's "formal command" because to comply would mean abandoning
his Oakland, California-based Institute for Culture and Creation
Spirituality, his magazine, and other activities. Fox has appealed
the order to Father Damian Byrne, master general of the Order of
Friars Preachers, or Dominicans, in Rome.
In 1988 Fox's provincial leadership sentenced him to a "year of
reflection" and silence after critics contended that his teachings
were more New Age than Catholic. (Some contend the silencing was
actually imposed by the powerful head of the Vatican's Congregation
for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.) Fox has
stated that the role of those who support his theology is to
"reconceive the universe as the mystical body of Christ."
-- _William M. Alnor and Paul Carden_
-------------
End of document, CRJ0104A.TXT (original CRI file name),
"News Watch"
release A, May 31, 1994
R. Poll, CRI
(A special note of thanks to Bob and Pat Hunter for their help in
the preparation of this ASCII file for BBS circulation.)
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